Feelings mixed over extension request for MMIWG inquiry
'I say no to the extension, they’ve had more than enough time and money,' says Evelyne Youngchief
The last of the scheduled community hearings for the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls are underway in Richmond, B.C., and more than 100 people are expected to share their stories of survival and loss this week.
Juanita Desjarlais,who is Nehiyaw and Dene, told the inquiry Wednesday how she survived a lifetime of abuse and exploitation, and how she turned her life around and found healing in culture and community.
For many, the next four days could be the end of a chapter for the inquiry if the federal government declines to grant an extension requested last month by commissioners.
Marion Buller, the inquiry's chief commissioner, said in a news release in March that officials need more time "to do justice to our critically important mandate."
Additional time would allow members of the inquiry to connect with more women and girls, hold more hearings and conduct more research, the release stated.
Commissioners asked to have the inquiry extended to Dec. 1, 2020. It is scheduled to wrap late this year.
However, many are divided about whether Ottawa should grant the extension.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs spoke in favour this week of an extension.
"I'm very hopeful that the inquiry is granted the extension so that we may complete this very important healing journey," Phillip said in his opening remarks Wednesday morning.
Commissioner Michèle Audette asked for help in getting the commission's mandate extended, saying if the provincial, territorial and federal governments of Canada believe in the work of the inquiry they will support an extension.
In an emailed response to CBC News, a spokesperson for the federal government said there is no decision on an extension, but a decision is expected shortly.
'I say no to the extension'
Evelyne Youngchief is a frontline worker in the Downtown Eastside and has been a longtime advocate for missing and murdered women and girls. She testified during Robert Pickton's second-degree murder trial in 2007 and has long fought for the inquiry to take place.
Youngchief is against an extension.
"They've had more than enough time and money," she said.
"We need action now, quit wasting time…. It's really hard to watch this going on, watching the national inquiry all year long and now it's gotten here. And sure a lot of people will speak, but what's going to come out of it?"
Youngchief said the issue of missing and murdered women is an ongoing national tragedy and these losses are compounded by the ongoing overdose crisis.
'These are not just stories'
More than a dozen survivors and family members spoke publicly at the inquiry Wednesday. Private testimony is also being given this week at the Richmond hotel and at a temporary space in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
"These are not just stories," Desjarlais told the inquiry Wednesday.
Desjarlais began by apologizing to her mother — who sat next to her — for what she was about to say, saying she didn't want to cause her harm.
She spoke of enduring sexual abuse in early childhood while living in northern Alberta, experiencing abuse in foster care and violence later in Vancouver, where she was stabbed on two separate occasions.
"I was out there when a lot of the women were being plucked off the streets," she said, referring to the era when serial killer Robert Pickton was killing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Desjarlais said legislative and policy changes are needed to better protect women and girls, especially those fleeing domestic violence.
She also called for more support for people in small, remote communities so they can remain living safely at home.
The inquiry community hearings will continue in Richmond until Sunday evening.